(i) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a prescription pad, as well as to a system of monitoring and controlling the dispensing of samples of prescription pharmaceuticals and the dispensing of prescription pharmaceuticals at a discount to the patient.
(ii) Description of Prior Art
Certain pharmaceuticals are only available for purchase with a written prescription from a physician. In such case, the physician writes out a prescription, sometimes known as an Rx, for an appropriate pharmaceutical for the patient, the patient takes the prescription to a pharmacist who dispenses the pharmaceutical in accordance with the prescription and obtains payment from the patient.
In the marketing and promotion of pharmaceuticals it is a common practice for pharmaceutical corporations to provide physicians with sample packages of their pharmaceutical products. The physicians then provide their patients with such samples free of charge, whereby a determination can be made by the physician as to whether or not the pharmaceutical is suitable for the needs of the individual patient, without the patient incurring the expense of purchasing the product. At the same time the physician develops goodwill with the patient since the patient is not faced with purchasing a product which may prove unsatisfactory for his particular needs.
The practice is advantageous for the pharmaceutical company since the physician is more likely to prescribe a pharmaceutical which he has been able to determine is satisfactory for the particular need of his patient, by an initial free sample.
The benefits are such that the practice of providing free samples is wide spread. There are, however, a number of disadvantages in the existing practice.
For the pharmaceutical company there are the disadvantages associated with the expense of producing and distributing small sample packages, the expense of which is incurred whether or not the physician actually uses them. The pharmaceutical company has no control over the manner in which the physician uses the samples, for example, a physician might provide a patient with a sufficient amount of free samples so that the patient's needs are fully met without purchasing product, or perhaps with expired product which is no longer effective.
The number and geographical distribution of physicians makes it almost impossible to provide all physicians with a supply of samples and ensure that supplies are replenished as needed.
Previously there was no ready means for the pharmaceutical company to determine if its program of free samples is effective in producing sales.
For the physician there are the disadvantages associated with the need to safely store a wide variety of free samples while keeping them readily accessible for patients. In addition the physician has some responsibility to ensure that he does not maintain expired product. These factors present additional time consuming administration problems for busy physicians.
My earlier U.S. Pat. No. 4,807,909 issued Feb. 28, 1989, provides a solution to these problems, and enables the pharmaceutical company to efficiently and safely use samples in the marketing of their product.
A disadvantage of the system of U.S. Pat. No. 4,807,909 is that the pharmacist is required to submit the control stub 108 to the control body for reimbursement. If the pharmacist has only a small number of such control stubs for redemption he is either forced with additional paper work to recover a small amount of money, or he retains the stubs for an unduly long time before submitting them for reimbursement. This is disadvantageous to the pharmacist from the standpoint of cash flow and distorts the statistics and information developed by the control body and hence is disadvantageous to the pharmaceutical company.
Another prior aspect of promotion of prescription pharmaceuticals relates to the use of discount vouchers or coupons which are distributed to medical practitioners by pharmaceutical representatives. Periodically pharmaceutical companies develop programs of limited duration involving such discount vouchers or coupons. In the existing practice such vouchers or coupons are distributed to the patient by the medical practitioner at the time of writing the prescription.
In practice a busy practitioner may forget to give a patient a discount voucher, or overlook that he has them at all, especially if he is receiving many different discount vouchers from different pharmaceutical companies. Such discount vouchers, which usually are only usable for a limited duration, also utilize storage space in the practitioner's office and at the same time need to be readily accessible.
Under the current practice, the pharmacist redeeming the discount voucher faces the problem that he must submit the voucher to a separate control body to obtain reimbursement, and if he has only a small number of vouchers for redemption, each of low value, he may view the practice as inconvenient and decline to participate in the program. This is inconvenient for the patient and may also reflect unfavourably on the pharmaceutical company and their product.
Furthermore, although under such practice, the pharmaceutical company can obtain an indication of the extent of use of the vouchers, since it will know the number submitted for reimbursement, it has no ready means of determining which medical practitioners actually use the vouchers, or the extent of use by individual practitioners.
It is an object of the present invention to overcome the disadvantages associated with these previous practices.
It is an object of the invention to provide a prescription pad whereby the dispensing of free sample starter dosages and products with discount vouchers can be monitored and controlled.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a prescription pad whereby the pharmaceutical companies may employ programs for sample starter dosages and discount vouchers with greater efficiency.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a prescription pad assembly and a binder assembly incorporating the prescription pad assembly.
It is a still further object of this invention to provide a prescription pad whereby the pharmacist is more readily reimbursed for dispensing sample dosages for which the patient does not pay and for participation in discount programs.